Report on small business in Missouri and their challenges

The report, which the authors claim is the first of its kind, draws an interesting portrait of small business in Missouri:

• Half of all Missourians work for a small business. Nationwide, small businesses create 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs.
• Less of 4 percent of Missouri’s businesses qualify as “cheetahs,” but those 6,252 businesses added 130,000 jobs during the five years covered by the study. The Kansas City area was home to 18.52 percent of those companies, which account for about one of every 13 jobs in the region, slightly higher than the statewide average.
• About one-sixth of the firms were in construction, and it’s worth pointing out that construction is one of the areas hardest hit by the economic downturn that was hitting with full force just at the time the report was issued. More than one cheetah in 10 is a retailer, and other major groups are “professional, scientific and technical services,” wholesalers and administrative and support services.
• These entrepreneurs say Missouri is a pretty good place to do business – 78 percent said state policies have not been a barrier to their success – but they’d always like to have fewer regulations.

“The top issues that Missouri’s fastest growing firms are faced with due to their rapid growth include: finding and retaining qualified workers, increased administrative duties, higher healthcare costs and payroll, and higher office costs and cash flow,” the report says, adding later, “Half of Cheetah respondents indicated that government could best assist them via regulatory reform, changing the business tax structure, and reducing the costs for health care and energy.”